Grease is the best. It's a classic in the world of movie musicals. Everyone has seen it, or at least a scene or two, at some point in their life. But there's a lot more to this 1978 film based on a musical set in the 1950's than you thought. We all know that Jeff Conaway (RIP) played Danny Zuko on Broadway and John Tavolta was Doody, but did you know Elvis was offered a role?
1. Elvis was initially offered a role in the film.
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It is believed he would play the Guardian Angel role, but he did not accept.
2. Grease is the highest-grossing film of 1978.
Paramount Pictures/GIPHY
Grease is the word.
3. In "Look at Me I'm Sandra Dee" they changed the reference and it has a freaky coincidence.
Paramount Pictures/GIPHY
In the stage play, the song had a reference to Sal Mineo, who was murdered in 1976. For the movie, they changed the lyric to "Elvis, Elvis, let me be! Keep that pelvis far from me!" In reference to Elvis Presley, who died the same day the scene was filmed. The day was August 16, 1977.
4. There is a little tribute to the Three Stooges in the film.
Paramount Pictures/maureensadoll.tumblr.com
The boys who played Doody (Barry Pearl), Sonny (Michael Tucci), and Putzie (Kelly Ward) all went to director Randal Kleiser with their idea and got it approved for the film during the bonfire scene.
5. All of the cast members were too old for high school.
GIPHY/Paramount Pictures
John Travolta was 23, Jeff Conaway was 26, and Stockard Channing was 33 (older than Dennis C. Stewart A.K.A. Crater face or Leo, Leader of the Scorpions, who was 30). The two closest to high school age were Lorenzo Lamas (Tom) and Dinah Manoff (Marty), they were both 19.
6. A "Hickey From Kenickie" was 100% real.
Paramount Pictures/GIPHY
Stockard Channing said in an interview that Jeff Conaway insisted on applying the hickeys himself.
7. "Hopelessly Devoted to You" was written after filming wrapped.
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The producers felt that Olivia Newton-John needed a huge ballad for the film. This song actually ended up receiving an Academy Award nomination.
8. In the stage production, "Greased Lighting" is not sung by Danny.
Paramount Pictures
It's sung by Kenickie, but John Travolta convinced the producers to let him sing it.
9. Danny's blue wind-breaker was a nod to James Dean.
Paramount Pictures/GIPHY
Like his red wind-breaker from Rebel Without A Cause (1955).
10. Lucille Ball is the reason her daughter was not cast as Rizzo and the part went to Stockard Channing.
Paramount Pictures/GIPHY
Lucie Arnaz was dropped from consideration after Lucille Ball called and said "I used to own that studio; my daughter's not doing a screen test!" But actually, she owned the studio Desilu which was bought by Paramount.
11. Cast members got sick from filming the drag race scene.
Paramount Pictures
When filming near the bridge, the water there was stagnant and dangerous, causing some of the cast to become ill from it's filth.
12. That fight scene between Rizzo and Kenickie would have made sense but...
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Paramount Pictures/bettyrizzos.tumblr.com
...the scene explaining it got cut. They filmed a scene, where the couple got into a heated argument, before the diner scene but it was pulled due to it's grittiness. It was compared to something Martin Scorsese might have directed.
13. The first time John Travolta met Olivia Newton-John was at her house.
Paramount Pictures/GIPHY
He was a huge fan of hers (he basically was the #1 supporter of her being Sandy) and was very star struck when he met her, having not reached a huge level of success yet.
14. During the filming of "Greased Lightning" Jeff Conaway injured his back.
Paramount Pictures/GIPHY
And the injury led to his abuse of prescription medication and downward path. He was dropped by fellow cast members during filming. This information was not publicly known until Conaway's appearance on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.
15. Olivia Newton-John's pants were so tight when filming "You're The One That I Want," that the zipper was broken.
Paramount Pictures/GIPHY
She had to be sewn into her pants every morning.
16. John Travolta had to talk Olivia into filming that song.
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Paramount Pictures/cameronsfryes.tumblr.com
She admit on the Merv Griffin Show that she was terrified of it.
17. Jeff Conaway came up with the idea of how to blow off Danny and Kenickie's hug.
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Conaway said that in 50's, two guys hugging, "forget about it!" So he suggested that after, they comb their hair and pretend it never happened.
18. The film takes place in 1958.
Paramount Pictures/GIPHY
20 years before the actual release date on June 1, 1978 (in the U.S.).
19. In the stage production of the show, Sandy's last name is Dumbrowski.
Paramount Pictures/GIPHY
But because Olivia Newton-John was cast, they changed her background to match her Australian one.
20. One song cut from the film is actually played in the background.
Paramount Pictures/GIPHY
The "Alma Mater/Parody" instrumental from the stage version of Grease can be heard in the office on the last day of school and during the carnival scenes.
21. It took a week to shoot the dance contest.
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They were on location in a real school at the time in downtown L.A. Originally Sandy was not intended to dance in this scene, it was meant to be just Danny and Cha Cha. It was reputedly 116 degrees during filming. Several extras suffered heat-related illness.
22. But it took only one day to film "You're The One That I Want"/the end scene.
Paramount Pictures
It was filmed with a traveling carnival that was there only for the day. The next day, director Randal Kleiser wanted to film some extra close-ups, but the carnival had left, so they had to recreate pieces of that set to accomplish it.
23. Olivia Newton-John attended the premiere in a prom dress.
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And then for the after party, she changed into her "Sandy 2" look, which was hot pink spandex.
24. That plastic wrap moment in "Greased Lighting" is actually a reference to condoms.
Paramount Pictures/YouTube
Yup.
25. There was a planned sequel, by the title Summer School, completely different from Grease 2.
GIPHY
Paramount later nixed the idea and we sadly got Grease 2 in 1982. This orignal sequel plan grew out of Coach Calhoun's line "See you in summer school" to a student before he is hit with a pie in the carnival scene near the end.
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Session guitarist Jeff Golub has died, just three years after losing his sight following the collapse of his optic nerve. The rocker, who worked extensively with Rod Stewart and fronted jazz band Avenue Blue, passed away on Thursday (01Jan15), aged 59.
Golub also appeared on all of Billy Squier's Capitol albums and toured with Stewart from 1988 to 1995.
His final album, Train Kept a Rolling, was released in 2013 and featured guests Christopher Cross and former Ambrosia leader David Pack.
Late last year (14), he was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy - a rare degenerative brain disease, according to UltimateClassicRock.com.
Leading the tributes to Golub is saxophonist Dave Koz, who writes, "I love you, Jeffrey. Thank you for all you brought to our lives."

Veteran rock drummer Carmen Appice has offered Jimmy Page and Robert Plant his services should they ever reform Led Zeppelin, insisting he's a much better fit for them than Jason Bonham. Bonham, the son of late Led Zep star John Bonham, took his dad's drum seat in the band when Plant, Page and John Paul Jones reunited for a London benefit in 2007 - and he is considered the natural successor should the group ever get back together to tour.
Plant has made it clear that's not going to happen anytime soon, but Page remains optimistic - and it appears Appice, who has performed with Ozzy Osbourne, Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart, among others, hasn't given up on a reunion either.
Furthermore, he wants to be part of it.
Appice tells Totally Driven Radio, "I would like to work with a Led Zeppelin configuration, whether it's just John and Jimmy, me and a singer. There's a rumour that Ann Wilson might go out with them. I'd love to play drums on something like that."
He believes he's a better choice than Bonham, adding, "Everybody in that band is old school and legendary. Jason isn't legendary and he's not old school. He's John Bonham's son but he don't (sic) play like John Bonham. I'm not either - but I think my style might be close, because I came first.
"John listened to stuff I did (in Vanilla Fudge) and did it his own way. And we took them on their first tour. It's very close in feel.
"When John passed away there were rumours that I was going to join Led Zeppelin. Obviously I didn't get to do that, but I would still like to do that."
The Ann Wilson rumour is one the Heart singer started last year (14) when she revealed she'd be interested in stepping in for Plant should Page and Jones decide to tour as Led Zeppelin without their former frontman.
In a recent chat with Classic Rock Revisited, the singer, who performed Led Zep's Stairway to Heaven at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012, revealed she'd relish the challenge of stepping in for Plant.
She said, "(That was) one of the most unforgettable nights of my life... When we were done, we walked backstage and there was a feeling of awe. We were like, 'What just happened?'
"Hypothetically, if they (Page and Jones) ever needed a lead singer and Heart was not active at the moment, then, sure, I would (do it). I would go and play with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones any day of the week."

Tribeca Film via Everett Collection
Palo Alto bleeds aimlessness in a lot of good ways. In the tradition of Dazed and Confused and The Last Picture Show, Gia Coppola's directorial debut lands us knee deep in the ennui of a self-contained society of small town teens, daring us to dive right into a neon cesspool vacant of hope or self-actualization. Keeping in step with the mentioned films, Palo Alto is far less interested in telling a story than it is in painting a picture. The spectacle that results is beautiful, piercing, and — quite definitely — Coppolian. But it hits some difficulty when it tries to move beyond its frame.
Adapted from the short stories of at-least-he's-always-interesting James Franco (who is featured in the movie as a sneakily lecherous soccer coach), Palo Alto tags us to the corroded souls of a gaggle of misguided high schoolers in suburban Central California. Emma Roberts is the ostensible lead; her April is a sullen young woman whose chief character trait is sympathetic disillusionment. Her paths cross here and there with Mr. B (Franco) and likewise wayfaring classmate Teddy (Jack Kilmer — son of Val, who has a brief part in the film as the space cadet stepfather to Roberts), who is lightyears away from appreciating the gravity in his drunk driving episode and subsequent community service.
Tribeca Film via Everett Collection
The highlight of the bunch is Teddy's pal Fred, a compulsively obnoxious clown who The Naked Brothers Band's Nat Wolff stuffs with palpable agony and confusion. Buried inside of him, April, Teddy, and the scattered secondary players who work to identify the core of the proper main character — Palo Alto itself — lives our story, never progressing in any direction thereon out. The film is a snapshot of the pangs, frustrations, misgivings, malfeasances, and so on of the kids, adults, and neighborhood in question. In this form, it glows.
But Palo Alto tries to drive its story forward, yanking April, Teddy, and Fred out from the stronghold of their communal desperation and throwing them into the beyond. It's this forward motion that brings our attention to the delicate seams of the film, its unpreparedness in handling the story as much more than a lasting glimpse. We feel the elements slipping away from Coppola as she attempts to set them on a motive course for the first time in the third act, and so we have a tough time staying adhered as we once were to the characters — the falter is doubled by the fact that this emancipation comes at the intended peak of their emotional journeys.
Although the film might leave off dabbling in undeveloped turns — feeling frayed, uneven, and incomplete (I suppose it's hard to insist that such qualities are inappropriate for the story at hand) — it spends the lion's share of its time in a remarkable establishment: a portrait as lifelike as it is dreamy and as funny as it is haunting. It might lose its balance when it grabs for agency, but it offers an image very much worthy of our eyes.
4/5
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Bravo
It’s official: Andy Cohen found the exact amount of time we can stand to spend with the Atlanta housewives... and exceeded it by an hour. That’s if you count the Porsha Stewart’s one-on-one interview. Something feels broken in the franchise. NeNe Leakes has a stank look on her face for over three hours. Phaedra Parks and Kandi Burruss keep looking out into the distance as if there’s something amazing off camera. Was Porsha riding a unicycle and juggling fire? Did Andy have Jeff Lewis fighting all the Real Housewives of New York City in a kiddie pool filled with butter? This seems like behind-the-scenes machinations by Mrs. Leakes to control the show. Cynthia Bailey had a stone cold expression on her face probably because she wasn’t asked to look in the corner. The only one who seems like a normal person is Kenya Moore and she keeps breaking the fourth wall and talking about filming.
Kenya vs. NeNe
They fight the entire episode, but it does seem like a valid debate. Kenya is the upstart on the show and she’s savvy enough to get the audience’s attention and crazy enough to take on NeNe. Meanwhile, everyone is right. NeNe does try and control the show. She sets different rules for herself than she does for others, and she even bullies Andy. Speaking of hypocrisy, she told Kenya in the first episode of the season, “No b***h will ever tell me who I can or cannot talk to.” And yet, she told Marlo Hampton that because she filmed with Kenya they are no longer friends. They exchanged a few barbs. They also brought up the pajama party and it was clear that NeNe targeted Kenya with blame for all the drama. But, paging Captain Obvious, she put everyone, half-naked, in a room with pre-existing beef. It’s no wonder a fight broke out.
Winner: Kenya. She is very polarizing and you either love her or hate her. But she’s consistent. She may not be 100 percent real but at this point neither is NeNe. Meanwhile, NeNe seems to constantly try and control the show with behind-the-scenes drama and should just focus on being a real person.
NeNe vs. Herself
To quote Ghost, “NeNe, you in danger, girl!” It’s unclear if she wants to stay on the show. She’s checked out for the whole reunion. She looks half asleep. Can someone get her an Ensure? If her dinner meeting with her manager is to be believed, she’s turning down legitimate acting work like she has three Oscars. Is she taking classes at Omarosa Manigault’s learning annex class for being hateful on reality TV? Andy confronts her about homophobic remarks and she gets more petty than apologetic. She doesn’t seem to care about the people watching the show and really only seems concerned with getting a pound of flesh if someone gets her angry. She keeps arguing but there seems to be no point.
Winner: The Repo Men. If NeNe doesn’t respect the franchise and her following she may not have a career much longer.
Kandi vs. NeNe
NeNe made a comment on her blog about how she would never act like Momma Joyce did this season but threw in the phrase “to the gutter.” Kandi was offended, obviously, because it’s a rude thing to say. Sure Joyce is a character on the show and fair game. But, you should respect people’s children and their parents. After all, no one brought up NeNe’s son, who’s been to prison.
Winner: Kandi... and Cynthia. Kandi pointed out correctly that NeNe doesn’t play by the rules she expects others to. She hardly ever apologizes and if she does it rarely seems genuine.
Kenya vs. Phaedra and Apollo
Apollo Nida stopped by to discuss his sordid relationship with Kenya... and to dodge questions about the charges against him in court. He told Kenya that she needed him for a storyline, which is a little true. Andy pointed out that Phaedra and Apollo’s relationship seems so pristine and then rolled footage of them fighting. It seems their personal life may be much different behind closed doors.
Winner: No one. It seems clear that Apollo and Kenya have undeniable chemistry and may have a past. If not, why would they keep engage in this back and forth. They fight and flirt. It also seems like he and Phaedra are presenting a united front.
Peter vs. Being Called B**ch
Peter Thomas gets a great soundbite disputing all the women who called him names. He’s justified as a star on the show to engage in the storyline. Gregg Leakes is barely lucid and yet he engages in conversation.
Porsha vs. Obscurity
Porsha stops by Andy’s clubhouse to talk about all the drama. What she does end up doing is throwing veiled abuse accusations at Kordell Stewart, plugging her new single, and forgetting she spent the entire season crying.
Real Houselines of Atlanta
"At least my gums are original and not from Petco." – Kenya about NeNe’s teeth
"I’m done with rolling around in the mud with pigs." – Kenya
"Don’t expect no respect." – Kandi on her new relationship with NeNe
"Here’s my peach." – Peter
"Miss Ratchet USA." – NeNe to Kenya
"Certified funds, please." – Phaedra on Kenya providing money for charity
"Your life should end." – Did NeNe actually say this on TV?
"I have never worn my scars on my face. I’ve never worn what I’ve been through on my outward appearance." – Porsha on her mugshot forgetting she cried all season
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Lionsgate via Everett Collection
Performing is performing. ‘Nuff said. But there are different skills for singing and acting. You wouldn’t want a dance track by Patrick Stewart featuring Ian McKellan (okay, bad example, that sounds awesome). You also wouldn’t watch The English Patient with Justin Bieber. Or Apollo 13 with the boys from 98 Degrees. Or Crossroads with Britney Spears. But music artists like Mark Wahlberg, Queen Latifah, and Mandy Moore have all found great success by answering the call of the silver screen. Acting and singing are two different skills but some singers have managed to give some really amazing performances. Here are a few of our favorites.
Alecia Moore (Pink) in Thanks for Sharing
This heartfelt dramedy about sex addicts slipped under the radar. However, Pink’s performance shows that she’s more than just a singer... and acrobat. Her choice to use her real name to distinguish her acting from her music shows she’s serious. She plays a no-nonsense girl, which is pretty true to form, but she captures the humanity of the burden of sex addiction.
Mariah Carey in Precious
It’s hard to imagine the insanely high maintenance Carey without makeup. However, for her role in Precious, Carey abandoned her diva image in favor of playing a stern social worker. Carey’s acting abilities have incorrectly tied to the ill-fated flop Glitter. However, Carey is able to embody roles that are way more folksy and real than her media persona. Carey also deserves an honorable mention for her role in the film WiseGirls. The film is forgettable but her performance as a smart-mouthed waitress is impressive.
Cyndi Lauper in Vibes
Lauper rarely gets her due as an actress. She is an amazing performer and is only an Oscar away from EGOT-ing. Her thick New York accent puts her in that Joe Pesci category of actors who must play New Yorkers or Italian Americans. All the same, in the 1980s Lauper had top billing in a comedy about psychics starring Jeff Goldblum. The film did not do well box office wise but Lauper proves herself to be both compelling and funny.
Whitney Houston in Waiting to Exhale
It’s sad that Houston’s amazing talent is often eclipsed by her personal issues. Not only was she an amazing singer, she was a very gifted actress. Her role in this drama, based on the popular Terry McMillan novel, showcased not only her solid acting chops but also her ability to draw an audience. She was able to hold her own against the likes of Angela Bassett and Loretta Devine.
Diana Ross in Mahogany
Ross is an icon. Her songs are timeless. Her performance in this film is legendary. She plays a young girl who gets transformed into a supermodel with tons of booze and poor choices along the way. Plus, her love interests are Norman Bates and Lando Calrissian. Pop reference overload.
David Bowie in Labyrinth
Bowie’s performance in this bizarre children’s movie shaped a generation. They were either scared by goblins, engrossed in the music, or titillated by Bowie’s royal jewels visible in his tights. Bowie does deserve some credit for the acting challenge of performing exclusively with Muppets. Jennifer Connelly is one quarter Muppet, right?
Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls
Hudson earned an Oscar for her role in the film version of this popular musical. She has the pipes to sing the popular song “I Am Telling You.” She also has the ability to shine as the breakout star of this blockbuster. She is scrappy yet vulnerable, and proved to be the surprising highlight of this star-studded film.
Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur in Poetic Justice
Both Jackson and Shakur acting experience before Poetic Justice. Jackson did a lot of television shows like Fame and Diff’rent Strokes, which was an extension her squeaky clean pop star image. Shakur also kept his gangsta rap image for his role in Juice. Both actors stepped out of their comfort zones in this 1990s classic. Jackson opted for a harder exterior and a rougher neck. Shakur showed his softer side. Check out this clip that has enough F-bombs to rival Wolf of Wall Street.
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DreamWorks
For the bulk of every Rocky and Bullwinkle episode, moose and squirrel would engage in high concept escapades that satirized geopolitics, contemporary cinema, and the very fabrics of the human condition. With all of that to work with, there's no excuse for why the pair and their Soviet nemeses haven't gotten a decent movie adaptation. But the ingenious Mr. Peabody and his faithful boy Sherman are another story, intercut between Rocky and Bullwinkle segments to teach kids brief history lessons and toss in a nearly lethal dose of puns. Their stories and relationship were much simpler, which means that bringing their shtick to the big screen would entail a lot more invention — always risky when you're dealing with precious material.
For the most part, Mr. Peabody &amp; Sherman handles the regeneration of its heroes aptly, allowing for emotionally substance in their unique father-son relationship and all the difficulties inherent therein. The story is no subtle metaphor for the difficulties surrounding gay adoption, with society decreeing that a dog, no matter how hyper-intelligent, cannot be a suitable father. The central plot has Peabody hosting a party for a disapproving child services agent and the parents of a young girl with whom 7-year-old Sherman had a schoolyard spat, all in order to prove himself a suitable dad. Of course, the WABAC comes into play when the tots take it for a spin, forcing Peabody to rush to their rescue.
Getting down to personals, we also see the left brain-heavy Peabody struggle with being father Sherman deserves. The bulk of the emotional marks are hit as we learn just how much Peabody cares for Sherman, and just how hard it has been to accept that his only family is growing up and changing.
DreamWorks
But more successful than the new is the film's handling of the old — the material that Peabody and Sherman purists will adore. They travel back in time via the WABAC Machine to Ancient Egypt, the Renaissance, and the Trojan War, and 18th Century France, explaining the cultural backdrop and historical significance of the settings and characters they happen upon, all with that irreverent (but no longer racist) flare that the old cartoons enjoyed. And oh... the puns.
Mr. Peabody &amp; Sherman is a f**king treasure trove of some of the most amazingly bad puns in recent cinema. This effort alone will leave you in awe.
The film does unravel in its final act, bringing the science-fiction of time travel a little too close to the forefront and dropping the ball on a good deal of its emotional groundwork. What seemed to be substantial building blocks do not pay off in the way we might, as scholars of animated family cinema, have anticipated, leaving the movie with an unfinished feeling.
But all in all, it's a bright, compassionate, reasonably educational, and occasionally funny if not altogether worthy tribute to an old favorite. And since we don't have our own WABAC machine to return to a time of regularly scheduled Peabody and Sherman cartoons, this will do okay for now.
If nothing else, it's worth your time for the puns.
3/5
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Tribeca Film via Everett Collection
For a film that involves a love triangle, mental illness, a Bohemian colony of free-spirits, an impending war and several important historical figures, the most exciting elements of Summer in February are the stunning shots of the English country and Cornish seaside. The rest of the film never quite lives up to the crashing waves and sun-dappled meadows that are used to bookend the scenes, as the entertaining opening never manages to coalesce into a story that lives up the the cinematography, let alone the lives of the people that inspired it.
Set in an Edwardian artist’s colony in Cornwall, Summer in February tells the story of A.J. Munnings (Dominic Cooper), who went on to become one of the most famous painters of his day and head of the Royal Academy of Art, his best friend, estate agent and part-time soldier Gilbert Evans (Dan Stevens), and the woman whom they both loved, aspiring artist Florence Carter-Wood (Emily Browning). Her marriage to Munnings was an extremely unhappy one, and she attempted suicide on their honeymoon, before killing herself in 1914. According to his journals, Gilbert and Florence were madly in love, although her marriage and his service in the army kept them apart.
When the film begins, Munnings is the center of attention in the Lamorna Artist's Colony, dramatically reciting poetry at parties and charming his way out of his bar tab while everyone around him proclaims him to be a genius. When he’s not drinking or painting, he’s riding horses with Gilbert, who has the relatively thankless task of keeping this group of Bohemians in line. Their idyllic existence is disrupted by the arrival of Florence, who has run away from her overbearing father and the fiancé he had picked out for her in order to become a painter.
Stevens and Browning both start the film solidly, with enough chemistry between them to make their infatuation interesting. He manages to give Gilbert enough dependable charm to win over both Florence and the audience, and she presents Florence as someone with enough spunk and self-possession to go after what she wants. Browning’s scenes with Munnings are equally entertaining in the first third of the film, as she can clearly see straight through all of his bravado and he is intrigued by her and how difficult she is to impress. Unfortunately, while the basis of the love triangle is well-established and entertaining, it takes a sudden turn into nothing with a surprise proposal from Munnings.
Neither the film nor Browning ever make it clear why Florence accepts his proposal, especially when they have both taken great pains to establish that she doesn’t care much for him. But once she does, the films stalls, and both Stevens and Browning spend the rest of the film doing little more than staring moodily and longingly at the people around them. The real-life Florence was plagued by depression and mental instability, but neither the film nor Browning’s performance ever manage to do more than give the subtlest hint at that darkness. On a few occasions, Browning does manage to portray a genuine anguish, but rather than producing any sympathy from the audience, it simply conjures up images of a different film, one that focused more on Florence, and the difficulties of being a woman with a mental illness at a time when both were ignored or misunderstood.
Stevens is fine, and Gilbert starts out with the same kind of good-guy appeal the won the heart of Mary Crawley and Downton Abbey fans the world over. However, once the film stalls, so does his performance, and he quickly drops everything that made the character attractive or interesting in favor of longing looks and long stretches of inactivity. He does portray a convincing amount of adoration for Florence, although that's about the only real emotion that Gilbert expresses for the vast majority of the film, and even during his love scene, he never manages to give him any amount of passion.
Cooper does his best with what he’s given, and tries his hardest to imbue the film with some substance and drama. His Munnings is by turns charming, brash, and brooding, the kind of person who has been told all of their life that they are special, and believes it. He even manages to give the character some depth, and even though he and Browning have very little chemistry, he manages to convey a genuine affection for her. It’s a shame that Munnings becomes such a deeply unlikable character, because Cooper is the only thing giving Summer in February a jolt of life – even if it comes via bursts of thinly-explained hostility. It's hard to watch just how hard he's working to connect with his co-stars and add some excitement to a lifeless script and not wish that he had a better film to show off his talents in.
Unfortunately, by the time Florence and Gilbert are finally spurred into activity, the film has dragged on for so long that you’re no longer invested in the characters, their pain, or their love story, even if you want to be. Which is the real disappointment of Summer in February; underneath the stalled plot and the relatively one-note acting, there are glimmers of a fascinating and compelling story that’s never allowed to come to the forefront.
2/5
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Faces rocker Ian Mclagan has dismissed Rod Stewart's plans for a band reunion with Ronnie Wood in 2015, because the keyboardist will be busy working on reforming the Small Faces. Stewart recently revealed he has been in talks with Wood to hit the stage together once the guitarist's commitments with the Rolling Stones come to an end, claiming they were "earmarking 2015".
However, it appears the two British superstars have yet to discuss the get-together with surviving bandmates McLagan and drummer Kenney Jones, as they are in the process of organising a reunion for the group which spawned Faces.
Asked about Stewart's comments during an interview with Uncut magazine, McLagan says, "Why would we f**k around with the Faces when we've got bigger fish to fry?
"It's interesting that Rod announces these things without talking to me or Kenney... (Stewart will) have to wait until 2016 because 2015 is the Small Faces' year."
McLagan, Jones and late bassist Ronnie Lane were originally members of Small Faces, but the group split in 1969 following the exit of frontman Steve Marriott. The trio recruited Stewart and Wood, who had both been playing with The Jeff Beck Group, to join the line-up and rebranded themselves Faces.
Stewart served as their frontman from 1969 until 1975, and rejoined Wood, McLagan and Jones at the Brit Awards in London in 1993, but he was subsequently replaced by former Simply Red star Mick Hucknall for comeback shows in 2010 and 2011.

With Christmas a little over two weeks away, the major networks have slowly begun to roll out their holiday programming. Then there's shows like Nashville and Sons of Anarchy, both of which are airing all new episodes – they count too, you know! Here's what else you need to be watching this week.
ABC
NashvilleRemember what a really good network drama was like? You know, the type that didn't involve a bloodied body part with a heinous killer on the loose? (Looking right at you, CSI!) Yeah, turns out they still exist, with ABC's Nashville being one of the best dramas on network TV. Of course it always helps when you have Connie Britton in your cast. Maybe just a little. A new episode of Nashville airs Wednesday at 7 PM ET on ABC.
Sons of AnarchyClay is dead, the Irish are out of the picture, and a lot is now hanging in the balance for Jax and the boys as season six of Sons of Anarchy comes to a close. Sorry, going to go a bit off topic here, but could anyone really have seen Charlie Hunnam playing the lead role in next year's big screen adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey? That would have just been ... weird. The season finale of Sons of Anarchy airs tonight at 7 PM ET on FX.
Anger ManagementHis personal life may be filled with drama (seriously, how many porn stars can one man date?!), but Charlie Sheen is clearly still at the top of his game as the star of FX's hilarious sophomore comedy Anger Management. And after all this time, all the producers of Two and a Half Men got was (gasp!) Ashton Kutcher! A brand new episode of Anger Management airs Thursday at 9:30 PM ET on FX.
It's A Wonderful LifeThe holiday classic returns to television, and this year NBC is going all out by airing It's A Wonderful Life in amazing 3D! Okay, that's not true, but wouldn't it be cool if it was? You can check out Frank Capra's warmhearted drama for about the billionth time this Saturday at 8 PM ET on NBC. And although 3D glasses are not required, that shouldn't stop you from wearing them. You know, to make a fashion statement.
Frosty ReturnsJimmy Stewart not doing it for you? Then you can just as easily turn the dial (do those still exist?) to CBS, which will be airing 1992's Frosty Returns at 9:30 PM ET. And what better way to muster up the holiday spirit then by watching a towering yeti coming to life to save Christmas? Brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it.
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